First Grow, would like some advice please

[TheDuke]

given this is my first time here and growing, i thin i need basic advice. so i think this is the right section. mods feel free to move it.

i germinated my seeds that took two days, now they have been growing for 5. im after some reassurance that im doing ok, also some critical feedback is more than welcome.

is seen a reply to a post that had a template of useful info to include, so ill try my best to follow it.

Strain; Type, seed, Afghan

Soil in pots

System type? atm in a small grow box lined in foil, made ou of a large 2’ x 1’ storage box with a CFL

PH of runoff or solution in reservoir? watering with 7.1 ph atm, will bring it down when ph down arrives to 6.5

What is strength of nutrient mix? EC, or TDS, not sure, but just watering atm

Indoor

Light system, size? one CFL 150watts/6500k/1600l (also have 2x 175w/6500k/2000l in reserve)

Temps; Day, Night day 27c/80f , night 18c/64f

Humidity; Day, Night both around 40 to 50%

Ventilation system;, no

AC, Humidifier, De-humidifier, no and no

Co2; , No

i think my temps and humidity are fine, but want to add a fan as ive heard that the turbulence will strengthen the stem? however addin the fan will cool my box, meaning ill probably need to add a second bulb. is it worth it at this stage (day 5 as i write)?

ill include pics if i can of day 3 and day 5, to me they look healthy if a little stretched , on day 3 i lowered the light to aprox 2" from the plant, each morning i turn the plants by 180 degrees, i dont know why, or if its important, but my 2 plants both lean towards the bulb that is in the centre. so i figured rotating them daily may strengthen them a little.

i have seaweed extract incoming as a feeding solution. the plants have not been fed to date, i figured the potting soil has plenty of food in it atm , at what point should i feed the plants? 14 days?

my routine so far has been to water every second day, when i start to feed, how often should i feed.

sorry for all my noob questions, im really new to this and very anxious.

any and all help is truly appreciated

day 3. not the best pick, i didnt think id be publisung it .sorry.

day 5

current nursery set up

[Myfriendis410]

Welcome to the group and it looks like you are on your way! First, you don’t mention the type of soil. I’m assuming an appropriate blend like Fox Farms. Assuming good soil no additional nutrients are needed, probably through the first 12" or so of your grow. Over watering and watering with incorrect ph are what you should watch for. A fan isn’t a bad idea but you could wait until another node has sprouted. I would probably ph my water to 6.5 now for proper nutrient uptake.

[TheDuke]

thanks for the fast response and the warm welcome @Myfriendis410

the soil is John Innes Nuber 1. a loam based compost, meant for seedlings and cuttings.

i knew nothing about soils, so asked the nice lady which was the best stuff they had for seedlings.

the blerb on the back says its has all foods etc lime, grit nitrogen etc so im assuming its decent soil, its a posh garden centre if that makes a difference lol,

so a good couple of weeks or so until a feed? that is what i was thinking, and hold off for a bit on the fan.

im waiting on the PH down to arrive, the ebay seller is not the quickest.

ive been reading around the forum and there seems to be a lot of talk of run off. ive been watering light and often as i didnt want to soak the soil, just keep it damp. am i doing it wrong?

it seems the more i read, or watch the more anxious i get.thought id have to assume there is 100 ways to skin this cat.so your always going to get differing opinions, some that contradict others etc. thats where the anxiety comes in for noobs.

at the moment i think the colour looks good and healthy of the plant, nice and vibrant. but im basing that on no experience and more on the fact i like the colour!

just for completeness and future reference ill put a pic up of the blerb on the back of the soil

[Myfriendis410]

For the sake of disclosure I am pretty new to this with 2 harvests in the mason jar. The last one completed yesterday, 2 plants-Og Kush and White Widow feminized, yield was 9.48 oz of manicured bud. Mostly indoor from soil using led’s.

So; no fertilizer at all unless you see an obvious reason to fertilize or your plant is 12" tall.

You basically can’t have too much light after your seedlings get established. I like leds. They are the most efficient at producing photons from electrons right now.

I would allow your soil to dry mostly out before watering to promote good root growth and prevent rot. Use your finger or better yet buy a cheap meter.

You can buy ph up and down at Walmart or Petco FYI.

[TheDuke]

they will be going under an led when they move into a tent, atm they are in my office so i can keep an eye on them. far too much probably .

i could get some up/down local, but i tried two places and failed so went online, my closest walmart is probably 4000miles lol. a bit of a lie, as ASDA is now owned by walmart, but i doubt they stock it.

you are two cycles more experienced than me, so im all ears . thanks for your help.

conrats on the grow. how long did it take from planting to harvest? im expecting about 8 months or so,

[MAXHeadRoom]

Im new to this too, but I have read not to feed until the first 2 round leave fall off. All the nutes that the plant needs at this stage are in those leaves. Thats the way God made it to feed itself. You will also need TDS/PPM meter. This meter will tell you how much nutes are in your soil. Water til runoff means watering your plant til water comes out the bottom. Then you collect it and measure the PH and PPM. This will tell you the PH of your soil and how much nutes are in you soil so you can adjust accordingly. But your plants look really good so just sit back and relax. Patients is a virtue at this point.

[MAXHeadRoom]

You must not be in the US if a Walmart is that far away. Where are you from, if you don’t mined saying

[TheDuke]

I have a ppm meter, it came with my pH meter. Im yet to delve into the ppm stuff. At the beginning it’s an overload of info.

I’m in the uk, for the last few months, been buying bud to make oil. Not sure how much bud is where you are, but here it’s around £200 ($260usd)an oz,so we decided to dabble in growing. The initial setup is about the price of an oz.

I thought they looked healthy, it’s just nice to get a bit of feedback. Especially when your winging it.

[MAXHeadRoom]

Until you start adding nutes you wont use the PPM meter. Anyway Welcome from across the pond. Is that how they say it ? Great people on this site that are more than willing to help anyone no matter where you live. Just remember we might be sleeping when you are posting so there may be a delay in there response. Good luck on your grow. We are about in the same place in our grow (day 8) so I will tag you when I start my grow journal so we can compare the look of our plants. Sound good?

[Myfriendis410]

Any aquarium store will have ph adjusting chemistry as well. For ph up I simply use baking soda and I know others have used lemon juice. Organic and hard to beat. You might want to try that instead of using sulfuric acid for ph down.

[TheDuke]

@Myfriendis410 that’s a great idea, I should of thought that, I’m sure the wife has some. Cheers.

@MAXHeadRoom it does seem like a friendly forum, most are not. I read through alot of it before I decided to post. Defo tag me, I’ll follow you and put some picture up on your journal if that’s OK? I’ll piggy back on what your doing to, should take a bit of my guess work out.

Ive just noticed my humidity is down to 34, so I placed a glass of water in the box and its slowly raising up. What would you say is a good percentage? Between 40 and 50?

And my temp is currently 27(80), which I think is boarding on its max.

Do you have your lights on through the night? I’ve seen a lot of videos that have the lights on thought the night. But I’ve found I can get a 8 to 9 degree diffence if is have the light on 7am-11pm. The night drop is to 18 (65)degrees

Ive read you don’t want anymore than a 10 diffence, bit untill now (as I write this) I’m hoping that is ‘C’ and not ‘F’. As if it’s F that’s a 25 degree difference. I’m sure it’s C tho.

[MAXHeadRoom]

50 to 70 RH is recommended. I have trouble keeping mine that high too. I’m struggling to keep in the high 40’s RH. But your temp try to keep below 80F. Recommended 68 to 77 F. Its a balancing act cuz when you put a fan on to keep your temps down then your RH goes down too. What do ya do? I turn my lights off at midnight and turn them back on at 6am. So 18/6 schedule. To tell you the truth I have never checked nighttime temps. Im trying to simulate a natural outside envirmont. You can at this point run lights 24/7 if you want. That would help your nighttime temps

[TheDuke]

From what I’ve read I think the nighttime temps are ok, in the winter, I’d have to swap to night time lights, and day time off, to keep the temp swing under 10c. But I think I’m about ok.

When I move to the tent and LEDs I may have to swap to a nighttime grow instead of a day time.

I could go 24/7 but I’d rather save the electric. Not that the 30w cfl uses that much. Like you I think trying to replicate nature may be best.

Once I put a fan in I’ll probably need two bulbs to keep the temp up, so then it will be 65w plus the fan, savings, all them 8h add up.

Talking of fans, I spent ages looking for a poorly rated fan, as u wanted one that didn’t blow to hard, for temp reasons, I ended up getting a USB powered one, it’s very quiet, and doesn’t push to much air. But tbh it’s way better than I thought it would be. I’d be happy with it on my desk in the summer. (that week we have).

Once in the tent, and I get a some type of carbon extractor, that may give off some air flow. Time will tell, one step at a time.

[TheDuke]

One of probably many questions I’m going to have.

how do know when a plant is at the veg stage, and how may weeks on average. I know average will depend on strain, but In general.

[ktreez420]

Good job guys, you gave him some great advice and info!

[TheDuke]

up to day 9, and they seem to be ok. plant nunber one, seems to have a little curl on one of its large leaves (left plant,top leaf in the first pic), about one third the way up it. but i think its all fine at the mo.both 3.5" in width from tip to tip. both plants seem to be having some growth activity in the centre.

plant 1

plant 2

[lotolou]

I am using an Aerogarden Ultra LED and plants (3 white widow fem) have been going about 1 month. When do I switch lighting cycle to start creating buds?

[TheDuke]

possible issues , my plant (plant2), has got blotches. i noticed it the morning i was due to repot .

i didnt want them getting root bound, also with it being day 14, and the pots being so small, i was thinking the nutes in the soil may be done to. was the reson to re pot

so with re-potting in mind i decided to let them realy dry out and repot on day 4. i now no that was too long, the soil was bone dry. so it could of been a lack of water issue, or lack of nutes, but also to complicate matters over night the plant grew a good inch in height and was almost touching my CFL, so it could be burn, or a mix of the three.

i repotted yesterday, and the blotches have not spread and im keeping a close eye. anyone have any ideas?

pics of the roots. they was in 4" wide pots
plant2 , the one with blotches

ght=“500”>

plant 1.

day 16 - 24 hours after repot into 6" pots with a half strength does of seaweed extract

hope all the above makes sense.

[MAXHeadRoom]

Hey Duke. I am not an expert but I have attached a link from this site so you can figure it out. Other than the blotches they look good. They are bigger than my Gold Leaf sprouted on same day except mine dont have blotches lol

Nutrient deficiencies in marijuana plants

[MAXHeadRoom]

Did you spray anything on these plants or possibly spilled something on the one plant. Odd that only one plant would be showing deficiency